


sabotage everything | love no one

by spookykingdomstarlight



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Blood and Injury, Complicated Relationships, Everything Is Unresolved, Future Fic, Gunshot Wounds, M/M, Major Character Injury, Mutual Pining That Neither Of Them Would Consider Pining Or Mutual, Partnership, Pre-Relationship, Self-Destruction, Self-Hatred, Unresolved Antagonistic Tension Too, Unresolved Connor Issues, Unresolved Romantic Tension
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-14
Updated: 2018-12-14
Packaged: 2019-09-18 06:16:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,264
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16989597
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spookykingdomstarlight/pseuds/spookykingdomstarlight
Summary: “There’s nothing about you that’s simple, Detective. Don’t mistake my distance for ease.” Nines adjusted his grip again, tipping Gavin’s world a bit sideways, and suddenly there were lights as their police-issue ride whirred to life. Blue and red painted the streets in a glow familiar to everyone who’d ever stepped foot in a crime-ridden hellhole like Detroit. Ironic. Blue. Red. Gavin hated it. “Here we go.”





	sabotage everything | love no one

**Author's Note:**

> This was written for the [DBH DW Drabble-A-Thon](https://detroitbecomehuman.dreamwidth.org/2655.html). The prompt was: Reed900, not without you
> 
> This didn’t end up being a drabble obviously, but uh. It is what it is.

If someone had told Gavin even a day ago that he’d be in this position, he’d have laughed in their face. He might have done more depending on how insistent they were about it. Gavin always had been a bit of a, hmm, hot head when people riled him up.

The point, though, was he’d never have expected this, this monster with colorless eyes staring at him with hand held out. “I’m not leaving. Not without you, Detective,” he said in a voice that was both Connor’s and not. And, oh, how that comparison gave him a headache without ever getting to the very real point that Nines looked exactly like him and somewhere along the way he’d stopped wanting to punch Nines in the face for it. Maybe this was what dying felt like. There was a hole in his gut that his palm barely covered and blood, red and real, was spilling from his abdomen onto the concrete no matter how firmly he held his insides inside.

That had to be the explanation for why he was choking on the words that normally came so easily to him. _Fuck you_ and _don’t touch me and get the fuck outta my face, you plastic piece of shit, just because Fowler says it’s your job to keep an eye on me doesn’t mean I’m gonna sit quietly and take it_. The sweep of salt and rust across his tongue was a good excuse, too. Once he could speak, he’d use it.

For the moment, spitting a glob of pinkish saliva at Nines’s perfect, pristine shoes seemed like a perfectly serviceable way to convey the same.

“You’ll survive if you stop panicking long enough to let me help you,” Nines said. “And I’m not leaving until you do.”

As though to punctuate just how big a sacrifice that actually was, a bullet flew past their heads and hit the brick wall behind them. It was only then that he realized this actually was a firefight and Nines wasn’t doing his job, which was kicking bad guy ass. “Are you a moron?” Gavin finally managed, barely holding back a cough. “Go after them!”

Nines turned his head briefly, his profile lit by the streetlight. “I’m not concerned with them at the moment,” he said, distant, like getting shot at didn’t matter. Another bang sounded, this one further away. So great. Gavin was going to die and Nines wasn’t even going to get the bastards who killed him. That was just awesome.

“I swear to God, Black Box,” Gavin managed, gritting his teeth against the pain. For a guy—no, not a guy, an android—who spent all his time following Gavin around and recording his every movement, one of those grand plans the police department came up with to ensure fairer treatment for androids, he was actually pretty bad at protecting the public. “I will rip you to shreds myself.”

There wasn’t even the slightest hint of fear in Nines’s gaze, not even embarrassment for being a shit excuse for a detective. Even Connor had left Hank hanging during a chase that one time and nobody in the precinct had ever been allowed to forget it. Sounded exactly to Gavin like exactly the kind of thing an android would do, so it didn’t surprise Gavin in the slightest. But Connor had gone all weird somewhere along the way. Maybe some of that had finally rubbed off on Nines. They had the same source code, didn’t they?

“As much as I know you want to hate yourself to death,” Nines said, placid, “a few petty criminals isn’t worth the paperwork I’d have to file if you were to expire here. So, I say again: I’m not leaving without you, Detective.”

Gavin rolled his eyes and groaned as a fresh spasm of pain working through him. Fuck. That really did hurt. He hated getting shot. Once the adrenaline wore off, all you had left was misery, and the adrenaline had definitely worn off because Gavin couldn’t remember the last time he was this miserable. Probably it was yesterday, but people didn’t have a lot of perspective when they had shrapnel tearing them up. “You’re all romance.”

Normally, Nines didn’t go through the trouble of touching him. Threaten to bite an android enough times—metaphorically anyway—and they eventually stop doing the shit you don’t want them doing. Thank fuck. But right now, none of that mattered as Nines wrapped his arm around Gavin’s back and pulled him upright. If the asshole cared that Gavin maybe screamed in surprised agony that he strangled as quickly as humanly possible, he didn’t let on. All Gavin knew was his vision was whiting out a bit and he felt woozy and Nines’s arm was like a steel frame, the only solid thing holding him upright.

“The fuck do you even care, huh?” Gavin asked, mumbling. It was pathetic and he knew it. Probably Nines knew it, too, but there wasn’t a whole hell of a lot that Gavin could do when he couldn’t even keep himself standing straight without his fucking automated partner doing all the heavy lifting. It was embarrassing and Gavin couldn’t help wishing he hadn’t been shot just to avoid having to rely on the bastard for even a moment. He found a tiny well of strength with which to berate Nines. “And don’t tell me it’s the paperwork. That sounds like something I’d say.”

Nines’s grip tightened, but he didn’t readjust or otherwise hurt Gavin further, so Gavin couldn’t complain. Well, he could, of course. There was very little in the universe that could stop Gavin from complaining when he wanted to. But he didn’t want to. For once, he wanted an answer out of Nines more than he wanted to cut him down. “It really is the paperwork,” Nines said, but it sounded cagey to Gavin, even though his hearing was starting to get a little fuzzy, white noise and the pounding of his pulse too loud in his ears. “Or would you rather hear that I’d prefer to keep you as my partner than get foisted off onto someone even less charming than you?”

Gavin’s eyes narrowed and he listed sideways, apparently unable to parse Nines’s words and keep himself moving forward. But he wasn’t a detective for nothing. At least some of what Nines said was making a sick sort of sense. “You like me.”

It should have disgusted him. They might’ve had to admit that androids were more than the bits that drove their programming, but Gavin still wasn’t sure about any of them. They could be cruel, capricious, unpredictable even in their predictability. Or they could just be a cold motherfucker like Nines, who didn’t seem to give a damn from his lofty pedestal where things like emotions didn’t register.

Shit like that scared him. There wasn’t a day in Gavin’s life where he could relate to something like that. Everything, _everything_ got to Gavin. The thought of being like Nines terrified him and maybe he took that out on Nines—it wasn’t like it was his fault, exactly—but God damn, who thought androids were a good idea? How could you trust them?

“You’ve lost a lot of blood,” Nines replied. “And you’re imagining things.”

Nines was probably right, now that Gavin thought about it, but if he was going to die, he might as well give Nines hell one last time.

“Also, you’re not going to die,” Nines added, as though he could hear Gavin’s thoughts, too. What a fucking creep. Gavin wanted to hate him for it, but he couldn’t deny that he was grateful, just a little bit, to know that someone was trying to save his sorry ass. Even though he didn’t deserve it. Even if that help was coming from an unexpected source, the last android in the world besides Connor who would have had reason to.

“You,” Gavin said, dredging up enough energy to push himself further into Nines’s grip, “like me.”

“I’ve concluded there’s a zero-point-one-two percent chance you’ll be more compliant if I agree with you and a very significant chance you’ll be less so.” Nines looked down at him. If he were human, Gavin might have said his expression was careful. But this was just Nines’s default. Nothing special. Nothing uniquely for Gavin. “Therefore, I refuse to agree with you on that particular.”

“Now that is some damn fine logic at work there. Your processors are firing on all cylinders tonight. Just because you refuse doesn’t mean it’s not true.”

“My processors don’t run on cylinders, Detective. I’m not an old car rusting in someone’s backyard.”

“It’s lucky you can just turn shit off like that. Just decide you don’t like someone.” Gavin may have tried to snap his fingers, but he failed, and nearly stumbled for the trouble. How far away were they from the car anyway? It felt like he’d been walking for a thousand years by now. “That’s a nice feature.”

“Yes,” Nines agreed, but there was no heat behind it. There was never any heat behind it. Just once Gavin would like it if Nines snapped back, prove he was more than what CyberLife meant him to be. At least he manged to get to Connor a time or two before Connor caught on. “It is.”

“It must make things so much simpler.” Nines cinched him up, unexpected as they reached the curb. “Ow, motherfuck. That—”

“There’s nothing about you that’s simple, Detective. Don’t mistake my distance for ease.” Nines adjusted his grip again, tipping Gavin’s world a bit sideways, and suddenly there were lights as their police-issue ride whirred to life. Blue and red painted the streets in a glow familiar to everyone who’d ever stepped foot in a crime-ridden hellhole like Detroit. Ironic. Blue. Red. Gavin hated it. “Here we go.”

There was no ‘we’ involved in what followed. Mostly it was Nines manhandling Gavin into the backseat while Gavin swore with enough vehemence that his grandfather might have blushed if he was still alive. Androids didn’t blush though and Nines wasn’t the least bit perturbed by Gavin’s colorful language. Bastard. Nothing ever ruffled him. Gavin could’ve kicked him square in the gut and he wouldn’t have flinched. 

“I apologize,” Nines said, closing the door as he then got into the driver’s side. Not that he drove, but some humans still had a weird thing about not seeing a person or person-shaped thing behind the wheel. Gavin was one of them. They’d argued about it the first time Nines shoved him into the backseat with a wound, though mostly Gavin hadn’t wanted him anywhere near him over something as simple as a nick in his neck that might have struck an artery just a teensy, tiny bit, and ever since, he’d stuck up there if Gavin wasn’t in a position where he could take the metaphorical wheel instead.

Nines pushed a button and Gavin heard the distant sound of the sirens as Nines put the car into emergency transport mode. It lurched forward and then gained speed, progressive and certain.

“Aww, that’s sweet,” Gavin yelled out. “Pulling out all the stops for me. You’re getting sentimental.”

Turning, Nines placed his hand on the back of the seat. “Why are you so determined tonight?”

Gavin found it a bit hard to concentrate, but he did the best he could. “Determined to do what?”

Nines said nothing for a long moment, long even by Gavin’s standards. It must’ve felt like an eternity to Nines, who could’ve formulated twenty responses in that time, each more cutting than the last. Now that was a skill worth having. If Gavin had to pick anything to take from an android, it’d be that. Talk about useful. “To make me admit I feel something about you.”

Groaning, Gavin tried to flop a little. Get more comfortable. It was impossible. He hated being cooped up in the back of this thing. It was just his bad luck that it happened so frequently. ”Androids don’t feel things.”

“According to you.” Nines dipped his head in concession and then glanced out the window, perhaps to ensure everything was well. “So why are you pushing so hard? What do you want from me?”

Gavin’s head struck the door handle and he let out another curse out of habit. To be honest, he couldn’t really feel it. Nothing could drown out the sharp-dull-throbbing-lancing pain in his gut. There wasn’t a detective in the DPD who got shot as often as Gavin did. He should’ve been used to it by now. Maybe he just needed to carry stimpacks and painkillers full time. Just to be sure. Either of those things might’ve felt real nice right about now. “I don’t want anything from a little plastic man like you.”

Nines’s eyebrow climbed his forehead. “So you wouldn’t be interested if I said I was genuinely invested in your continued existence beyond the paperwork?”

It must’ve been the blood loss that was causing Gavin’s heart to pound harder. It was preferable to believe it was that than to believe the alternative. “Not in the slightest.”

Something that might have been a smile tugged at Nines’s mouth. It was weird and uncomfortable to witness and Gavin never wanted to see it again. “If you say so, Detective.”

If Gavin was less relieved than he let on to get what he wanted, that was his business.

It wouldn’t be the first time he sabotaged himself this way. And it probably wouldn’t be the last.


End file.
